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057 Ce N'est Rien
The background is light grey. ; Panel 1 Zane is lying on his side, his eyes open, his face expressionless. There is a cut on the right side of his forehead that extends diagonally from above his eye to near his temple. Three thin, wavy lines of blood streak down his forehead, falling into a large pool of blood nearly as large as his head. The pool of blood is bright, fresh red and unnaturally shiny. The drawing style is similar to that of the other comics, but it is noticeably different in some key ways. The normal art is highly influenced by 1930s pop art and cartoons, but this strip essentially looks just like a 1930s cartoon. Zane's eyes are still dark, oval and flat, but they are drawn in a style that is just a little more simple. His hair usually has two tufts, one large and one small, but it has been simplified into one large, symmetrical tuft at the top of his forehead. He is wearing a turtleneck, not his normal buttoned shirt, and his suspenders are cartoonishly straight, not curved around his body. The panel is entirely in black, white and shades of grey, as a 1930s cartoon would have been, except for the blood on Zane's head and the pool of blood. The background is nondescript and a darker gray than the surface Zane is resting on. ; Panel 2. Zane pushes his upper body off the ground, grimacing and closing his eyes. He is wearing puffy white gloves that look like the gloves that Mickey Mouse wears, with a wide, rounded band around each wrist. He is still bleeding from the gash on his forehead, and the blood starts dripping down his temples in two lines. ; Panel 3. As he pushes himself up, Zane is shocked to find a skeleton cat walking nonchalantly half a foot away from his face. His eyes open and his mouth falls open in shock, and his surprise is indicated by some thin white lines radiating from his head. The cat, too, is drawn in a stylized 1930s cartoon way. Although it is a skeleton, it has cute pointy cat ears, wide, hollow eye sockets and two stylized fangs at the base of its face. It puts one paw in front of the other, and the bones of its tail curve above its body. It regards Zane calmly. ; Panel 4. Zane stands up, the pool of his blood by his feet. He is wearing dark overalls with two comically large, round buttons on the front. As with the gloves, this outfit evokes that of 1930s Mickey Mouse. His arms and legs are curved out to his sides, and they have a rounded, cartoonish look, as if they're elbow noodles. Again, these touches add to the 1930s cartoon look. He looks to the side, past the cat who is now stretching with its eyes closed, with an expression of shock and dismay on his face. His eyes and mouth are open and more thin lines are coming from his head. About three or four feet away from him is a skeleton leaning against a lamppost and facing away from him. The skeleton is drawn in the same cartoonish, stylized style. Its eyes are closed, there is a slight furrow between where its eyebrows would be if it had them, it has no nose or ears, and its teeth are indicated by three cartoonish squares attached to the base of the head. He is wearing the black beret, black pants and black-and-white striped shirt of the stereotypical Frenchman and is smoking a cigarette. The cigarette is lit, with a small curve of white smoke coming from the tip, and floats out a few inches away from his mouth in a cartoonish fashion. His arms are crossed in front of his chest, and he is leaning against the lamppost with a similar rounded look to his legs. The lamp is lit, with a bright circle of light coming from it, and it looks like the lampposts found on the streets of Broodhollow, but slightly more cartoony. Zane, the cat and the skeleton are all standing on a sidewalk outside of a building that has no sign, but the doors and windows of which look like those of the antique shop. ; Panel 5. Zane walks over to the skeleton and, touching him with one finger on his shoulder, asks "Excuse me, mister -- am I dreaming this?" He has a worried look on his face, and the blood dripping from his wound continues to run down the side of his head. The type looks similar to the type usually used, but it is more rounded, giving it a 1930s style look, and the speech bubbles have more wavy, rounded lines than they normally do. The skeleton opens his eyes, one fully open and the other partially closed, as if he's taken aback or exasperated. As with the cat, his eye sockets are hollow. The smoke coming from the cigarette floating inches away from his mouth curls up. ; Panel 6. The skeleton turns toward Zane and, uncrossing his arms, closing his eyes and taking a drag on his cigarette, says "Ah ouais... She certainement seems like one, non?" The tip of his cigarette glows light blue. ; Panel 7. Zane, his eyes closed, puffs up his cheeks and blows air out of his pursed lips while brushing the palms of his hands together, in a gesture of relief. The blood continues to drip down past his ear as he says "Whew! Then none of this is happening!" The back of the skeleton's head is shown, and a small, thin line of blue light appears by where his eye sockets are. He says "Pauvre Monsieur Zane." ; Panel 8. This panel is drawn in a hyper-realistic style, different from both this strip and the strip's usual style, and colored. It is the same skeleton, emerging from the darkness. His skull is covered with thin cracks and deep within his large, black eye sockets two spots of bright blue light shine, a thin, horizontal ray of light glowing far to each side. The skeleton is bleeding from his eye sockets, and his brows are furrowed together, deep wrinkles appearing between the eyes. The shapes that were used to make the mouth look stylized and cartoony, when drawn realistically, make it look nightmarish and unearthly. The skeleton is still wearing the black and white striped shirt, although it is dirty and seems like it may be torn in the front. Light blue mist or smoke comes off of the skeleton's head in thin lines, swirling into the black and dark grey background which seems as if it has almost enveloped the skeleton. The skeleton answers, "What makes you think that?"